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Friday, March 14, 2014

Exclusive: Ali Astin to star in Ribbit with dad Sean Astin

Ali Astin, daughter of actor Sean Astin, will voice the role of the Princess in the upcoming
feature length animated film, "Ribbit," we can exclusively report. This will be the second time Ali has co-starred with her father; she played Samwise Gamgee's daughter Elanor in a brief scene in "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King."

According to writer/director Chuck Powers: "Late in the project I found myself needing to cast the voice of the Princess. I knew I ideally wanted a teenager since the Princess is 16. It occurred to me that Sean had a teenage daughter. Since I was scheduled back in LA for line pickups with him, I called and asked if he thought Ali would be interested in auditioning for the role. She came in and was wonderful! Focused, professional and took direction beautifully. I had to decide if I wanted an American accent or something more exotic. In the end when the animation and voice came together, I found she was perfect as the Princess! This is a part she totally earned." Sean, who voices the titular frog, said: "Ali is a natural. I kept thinking about her grandmother [actress Patty Duke] and about myself when she started working, but then it was just awesome watching her create the character. It was exciting to see her be so comfortable and relaxed. There's a moment when voicing a character when you know for sure that everything is right. I loved watching her discover that and then become protective of it within herself. Three things are clear to me. She loves it. She's good at it. She's going to be doing a lot more of it. I couldn't be more proud."

Ribbit (Sean Astin) is picked up by the Princes, voiced by Ali Astin.

Below are newly released behind the scenes and music videos from Ribbit, as well as the official trailer in case you haven't seen it yet!
[Note: updated making of video includes Tim Curry as Terrence.]

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"I name before you all Frodo of the Shire and Samwise his servant. And the bards and the minstrels should give them new names: Bronwe athan Harthad and Harthad Uluithiad, Endurance beyond Hope and Hope Unquenchable." —Gandalf in JRR Tolkien's "The History of Middle Earth" Volume 9: Sauron Defeated